The owner said he wanted Vince Carter back. Carter said he wanted to be back. But in world where changes of mind and uniform are only an extravagant offer away, Nets president Rod Thorn worried.

“There were several times I had trepidation about whether we were going to be able to do it or not. I was always concerned with Orlando because that’s where Vince resides,” Thorn said about Carter’s free agency.

But the worry was unnecessary. Orlando threw megabucks at Rashard Lewis, and Carter stayed true to his word, accepting four fully-guaranteed years at $61.8 million, plus another $4 million in a partially guaranteed fifth season, to stay a Net. It all became a done deal yesterday when Carter signed his contract in East Rutherford amid a Nets version of Times Square on V-E Day. Carter is locked up at least through 2010-11.

“Everybody says, ‘Oh, it’s all about the money,’ all the time,” Carter said, “but it’s all about being happy and being in a place where it feels like home.”

Hey, he’s not knocking the money. By remaining in New Jersey – and barely, if at all, listening to other offers – Carter met some personal standards. He remains alongside Jason Kidd, which for any competitor is basketball heaven. He stays in a familiar situation. And he gets another shot at a title run.

“It all factored in. It was one of those things where you say, ‘OK, if I go somewhere else, am I going to have to start over or do we just take off?’ Or, ‘Do I come back here and we can keep going from where we left off?’ ” said Carter, 30. “There are many factors. (And) keeping the core group does help.”

The Nets feel the “Big Three” of Kidd, Carter and Richard Jefferson, with the return from injury of Nenad Krstic, can contend. They want a big body, possibly free agent Jamaal Magloire. Carter will be prominent in any mix. He averaged 25.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists last season.

“How many people in the league are capable of doing that? You can count them on one hand,” Thorn said. “We certainly would have been remiss had we let Vince get away.”

They didn’t. For that, Lawrence Frank was thankful.

“There are very few players like Vince,” said Frank, whose two-year contract extension could be announced as early as Monday.

Carter, an eight-time All-Star, opted out of the final year of his deal June 30. An agreement was struck the next day, so there never was any real competition.

“In my mind, I was committed (to staying), but you want to hear what everyone else has to say,” Carter said.

Much of the negotiating drama died during the season when owner Bruce Ratner expressed the importance of bringing back Carter. Though the message may have dented bargaining power, it let Carter know he was wanted.

Ratner repeated his beliefs yesterday during a Nets setup that contained two Godzilla-sized banners of Carter, live TV coverage, a video-taped message by Kidd from Lake Tahoe (“Dinner is on you until I retire,” Kidd said), a highlight reel of Carter as a Net, and lots of corporate-sponsor plugs.

“This really is one of the most exciting moments in Nets franchise history,” Ratner said. “As I said publicly during this year, it was very important for me and our team to keep Vince. We’ve shown today I am committed to winning. This franchise is committed to winning.”

All that helped keep Carter, who still has items on his to-do list.

“We accomplished a lot and still haven’t reached where we want to go,” said Carter, who has not gone beyond the second playoff round with the Nets. “I felt like the job wasn’t done, so I had to come back.”